UH Manoa is dealing with cuts of $7 million from the state legislature, $2.5 million from the governor, and will have to come up with $7 million to pay faculty raises.

Chancellor Tom Apple says it will take some serious belt-tightening.

“We’re gonna try as hard as we can to make sure the students don’t feel it. We’re gonna be doing the efficiencies, we leave a couple of the managerial positions open and things like that and just try to do more with less,” Chancellor Apple said.

Doing more with less is something the university has been dealing with for years. It received $246 million from the state legislature in 2009, and has dropped each year, down to $190 million this year. It’s a trend that worries faculty members.

“There’s only so long you can do more with less without things starting to really break down, so keeping our fingers crossed, confidence in the chancellor. Hope it’s gonna go well in the future,” UH faculty member Cherie Luckhurst said.

As students get ready for the fall semester later this month, they worry about the services that might get cut.

“A lot of times one-on-one with a professor, even with a professor’s assistant is a vital element understanding some concepts, so I could see that,” UH student Cielia Morse said.

Chancellor Apple says there are some extra funds that will help lessen the blow.

“We’re using a lot of our tuition special funds account, our carryover accounts, to cover these kinds of things. Make sure that we don’t impact student success and student access,” Chancellor Apple said.

Chancellor Apple says he will ask the state lawmakers to fund the faculty pay raises at next year’s legislative session.